Ariana Grande – “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”

Ariana Grande online.

Rating: 2.5 out of 4.

I wonder how Robyn feels about Ariana Grande. Maybe it’s a complement to Robyn’s Honey (still great) that Grande felt like she could Disney-fy Robyn’s melancholic disco frisbee and use it as a tribute to a sad movie about a creepy Jim Carrey falling in love again with falling in love, heartbreak and warts and all. I think Grande is a boring pop star with an excellent voice, so I like “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” in which the song’s focus is a compelling vocal melody. The missing half-star is my feeling that somehow, Robyn got robbed. At least the outro is pretty. For the love of God, can we stop with all the lowercase song titles.

-Brady Gerber

BACK TO OPE! SIGN UP FOR OPE!’S NEWSLETTER TO GET EACH WEEK’S REVIEWS IN YOUR INBOX ALONG WITH GROUNDBREAKING REVIEWS, CONTENTIOUS INTERVIEWS, AND INTERESTING LINKS YOU WON’T FIND ANYWHERE ELSE. CONTACT BRADY (ME) IF YOU’D LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS REVIEW, DONATE TO MY COFFEE FUND, OR BOTH. FIND YOUR LOCAL REPS. THIS IS MY OWN ANALYSIS, FOR BETTER OR WORSE. I PROBABLY LIKE THAT OTHER SONG YOU LIKE. REMEMBER WHAT LEONARD BERNSTEIN SAID. THESE ARE JUST NOTES. IT’S PEOPLE (US) WHO GIVE MUSIC MEANING.